Childproof Your Kitchen

Childproof Your Kitchen

The kitchen is not an ideal place for a toddler. Not only are there heating appliances such as the stove and the toaster, but also a selection of sharp objects like knives, forks and other cutlery.

However, as your toddler becomes more active and independent, they will end up in the kitchen at one point. When that happens, you need to make sure that they do not injure themselves or make a huge mess there.

That means you will need to make some changes to your kitchen. Here are some tips on what you can do to make your kitchen just a bit safer for children.

Safety Latches

The first step is a no-brainer. Make sure that the toddler cannot open any of the cabinets. Installing safety latches on all cabinet doors is not only cheap, but it is also easy, so you can do it by yourself, even with minimal DIY know-how.

There are several types of these cabinet protectors. The simplest ones are slider locks, but children can learn easily enough how to open those. Other options include magnetic locks and strings.

Bolt Down Free Standing Objects

Toddlers enjoy climbing things. If you have freestanding shelves, they will need to be bolted to the floor or the wall to make sure they don’t fall over if your child attempts to climb them. This is true not only for the kitchen but also for the rest of your house. Bookshelves are a particular hazard since books are heavy and can seriously injure the child if they fall on them.

Remove Breakable Items from Reach

One of the best things about kids is how inquisitive and curious they are. However, that can also be problematic; especially if you can’t watch them every single second (like when cooking). They will reach for just about everything they can. That means that you had better put all the breakable items well out of their reach.

This also goes for small items they can swallow and choke on, as well as potentially poisonous things. What you can leave on the lower shelves are your child’s toys and bigger items they cannot swallow or break.

Cover the Power Outlets

Once again, this goes for the whole house, not just the kitchen. Power outlets which are not in use need to be covered, lest the child sticks their finger or some object in there. You have several different options when it comes to protecting the outlets.

The simplest and the cheapest option are plastic covers, but if you want to spend more money on this, you can find more elaborate and expensive options, too.

Stove Protection

When it comes to the appliances, the stove is probably the most interesting to your toddler. They like to imitate what grown-ups do, and they can see that grown-ups spend a lot of time at the stove in the kitchen.

Not only that, but stoves have all those dials and knobs. If your stove makes sounds when you operate it, that’s an additional incentive for the child to be interested in this new and interesting machine.

There’s something you can do, however. There are little plastic covers which make it impossible for the toddler to reach the knobs and dials. Your oven can also be fitted with a lock, protecting it from being opened by a child.

All of these are good ideas to protect your child even when they slip out of your supervision for a second. However, communication is as important as these protection methods. Make sure that you talk to your child and explain what they can and can’t-do and why.

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